Touch Move
by White Crow
Summary: AU. If you knew how the person you love was going to die, would you have the heart to tell him? AiRen. M for future chapters.
1. Setting the Board

**Chapter 1**

Ichimoku Ren. 24. High School Teacher.

Well, at least the first two are true. Ren liked to think his being a teacher was something that only made sense on paper, on some days, also in the classroom. But in general, the profession was nothing he chose for himself. Although the truth was, there were a thousand other things readily available to him; he just couldn't bring himself to care that much to choose. For if there was one thing that could be said about Ichimoku Ren, it was that he was indifferent. To everything.

Maybe it was because he'd been on his own for most of his life. Maybe it was because he despised the fact that caring complicated things more than it made them easier. Or maybe it was just because he found no reason, no justification to take things into his own hands and find something that would make him want to live right. It was all futile, from his point of view.

Effort was just not necessary.

So he took what he could get, what was in front of him. He moved into the city because his dead grandfather left him an apartment. He went into college because he was eligible for a scholarship. And he became a teacher because he lived next door to a school. As far as Ren was concerned, life was a tedious process of waiting for your death. It's what you have to pass the time. And by all means, he wanted to pass his time quietly, at his own pace, with no complications of any kind.

Yes, Ichimoku Ren was indeed indifferent.

But psychic, he was not.

* * *

"Answer pages 42 and 43, exercises A and B. Pass it on Monday."

A hand was raised. He sighed.

"Yes?"

"Are we supposed to write it on yellow legal pad or white legal pad?"

Ren's hand itched for a book to throw but his lips automatically curved into a smile. "Either is fine, Kurokawa-kun. Any more questions? None? All right, see you tomorrow." He stacked his books carefully on top of one another, as the class filed out of the room, the sound of chairs scraping on the linoleum floor assailing his senses.

Finally, it was lunch.

"Dismissed your class early again, Ichimoku-sensei?"

Ren turned around to find the elderly principal in the hallway, smiling at him with crinkly eyes.

"Ah, Wanyuudo-kouchou," he greeted, sliding the classroom door shut beside him. "Konnichiwa."

The principal's face smile widened. "Is that manga any good?" His eyes fell on the comic book tucked under Ren's arm.

"Oh, this." said Ren, "I confiscated it from one of the boys." Truth be told, Ren didn't bother with rules but if he wanted to keep his job, he had to pretend he gave a damn. He returned the principal's smile. "Anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Well I was hoping you could accompany me to lunch-"

"Lunch? Well I have an appointment with Nurse Hone today-"

"It won't take more than five minutes." the older man insisted.

Ren pretended to think about it before nodding in assent. "Very well. I'll just drop this off at the faculty room."

Wanyuudo patted his shoulder once before turning away without a word.

Ren had always disliked that man. He was a bother, he was weird, and he always smiled at him like he knew something he didn't, which was probably the case. What he disliked most about the old man was that he thought Ren was an exemplary teacher, and since expectations like these went completely against Ren's vow of indifference, it made every day a little harder to get by without him having to put up a believable front. And Ren hated working hard to hide the fact that he really wasn't.

When Ren got to the school cafeteria, it was packed with rowdy students who couldn't seem to digest their food without making a ruckus first. He squeezed his way along the benches of gossiping girls and meandering boys before he reached the semi-solitude of the faculty area, separated from the din by four thin walls and a malfunctioning sliding door.

There by the corner, surrounded by his colleagues hoping for a raise, sat the principal. He motioned to Ren when he saw him, and he took his seat by his side. Ren bowed politely to the others on the table, but did not miss the derisive looks they threw his way.

"Where's your bento?" asked Wanyuudo.

"Ah well you said we'd only take five minutes so I didn't bother bringing my pack."

"Do you always hold such reverence to my word, Ichimoku-sensei?"

Ren simply gave a smile and pretended he didn't hear 2-C's Wakata-sensei snort.

"All right, let's get to business since I don't want to keep you long." He set his chopsticks down beside the little plate of wasabi. "I just wanted to talk to you about your student, Enma Ai."

Ren furrowed his brow. "Enma? Enma Ai?"

"Yes."

"Is she a third year?"

"First year. B."

Ren mentally scanned the names and faces of his students but couldn't remember anyone by that name. "Uh. I don't profess to know all of my students but I don't think there's an Enma Ai in 1-B..."

"None yet." Wanyuudo-kouchou reached for a glass of water and took a sip, the light from the window bouncing off his bald scalp and into the glass. "She's a transfer student. She'll be starting tomorrow."

"Oh. And?"

"This girl, she's a very special child," he explained, looking at Ren straight in the eye.

Ren wondered if that was like some kind of euphemism for mental retardation but did not dare ask.

"What would you like me to do, Wanyuudo-kouchou?"

The principal smiled again. "Just look after her. You may find that it is to your... advantage."

He then tried to offer Ren a piece of sushi, which Ren politely declined. He waited for the other man to expound on his words but Wanyuudo picked up his chopsticks and went on merrily eating his bento. Ren guessed it meant that they were done. So he took his leave and got up from the orange plastic chair, happy that he could get out of the room that smelled of unmasked envy.

It made him badly want a cigarette.

Ren briskwalked his way to the school clinic, all the while avoiding the giggly girls greeting him a good afternoon. When he got to the clinic, the sign said closed but the voices coming from the room told him otherwise. He slid the door open and went in.

"But it hurts."

"Of course, it hurts. You hit your head on a metal railing."

The nurse, Hone Onna, was bent over a second year boy and held an ice pack to his forehead.

"Just keep that on for the next hour and it'll abate the swelling." When she turned her head and saw Ren, she straightened up. "Gimme two minutes," she said. She then helped the student on his feet and accompanied him to the door.

"Take the pills I gave you after you've had lunch, and you'll be fine." She patted the students back.

"Can I go back tomorrow?" The student asked hopefully. Too hopefully. Ren smirked.

"Whenever you feel like it," Onna smiled. The second the door closed, Ren pulled the cigarette pack from his pocket, opened it, and handed a stick to the nurse.

"You look like you need it."

"You have no idea." Onne slumped down on her chair, massaging her temples. "Teenagers."

"They're all lost causes," Ren agreed, leaning over the lab table.

"Nah. Nothing a sight of my cleavage can't fix."

Ren snorted. That was true. Most of the students who frequented the clinic were hormonal boys who wanted to take a good look at Onna's breasts. She had a very fine pair that went well with her staggering looks, making her the closest the kids could get to a real porn star. Well, at least at their age. Even Ren couldn't deny the fact that she was attractive. She was his ex-girlfriend, after all.

"Anything new on your front?" asked Onna, lighting her stick with the syringe-shaped lighter Ren got her for her birthday.

"Wanyuudo said something weird to me."

"That isn't much of a headline," teased Onna. She tossed her the lighter so he could light his cig. Within seconds, the clinic was filled with smoke.

"He wanted me to "look after" a transfer student, of all things." Ren rolled the cigarette between his fingers. "That's not part of my work description."

"You're a teacher, Ren."

"Exactly."

Onna smirked. "It does go with the job." Ren watched her cross her legs, the short white uniform tantalizingly hugging her thighs.

"It's not in my contract."

"Who says it has to be?"

Ren shook his head. Perhaps that was the biggest difference between him and her. She absolutely lived for her job. Maybe if she had even an ounce of his cynicism, they wouldn't have broken up. Ren almost smiled at the thought.

"He said she was special."

"What kind of special?"

"I don't know." He took a long drag, making sure all the nicotine went into his body and straight to his nerves. "Whatever it is, I don't give a fuck."

* * *

Ren thought 8:30 was an inhumanely early time to be up. It was too early to _think_, much more teach. But because he had no choice, he was already on his way to his first class. Algebra. 1-B.

The noise from the corridors had transferred to the rooms. The jeers and cheers of the students clashed together and made his brain ache. Somehow, they were particularly loud that day.

The classroom automatically hushed when the door creaked open and Ren went in. He dumped his things on the teacher's table with a dull thud.

"Ohayou," he mumbled.

"Ohayou, Sensei," chanted the female half of the class.

"Please turn your books to page 80. If I remember correctly, we were discussing factorization of polynomials-"

The sound of someone clearing his throat punctured his words.

Ren looked up but nobody said anything. "Any questions?" No answer. "All right then, we can start with the exercises from-"

There it was again.

Sighing, Ren put his book down. "I thought you didn't have any questions."

"That's not it, Sensei," said a girl on the second row, twirling her pigtails in anxiety.

"Then what is it?"

The entire class swiveled their heads to look at the very back of the room, where a girl with long, raven hair sat still. So still that it was like time stopped where she was.

Ren pulled his records from between his books and tried to look for the girl's name in the files. He had found the seating chart but it said that a Kobe Shuichiro should be occupying that chair. He didn't keep track of his students but he was pretty sure Kobe had moved to a new school two weeks ago. He looked at her again. The girl didn't budge but merely observed him with huge, caramel eyes. Or were they red?

"Enma? Enma Ai?"

Ever so slowly, the girl raised a thin, pale arm in the air. "Here," she whispered.

Apparently, she was the special student Wanyuudo had told him about. Ren raked his eyes over her small face. It was as pale as her arm. Her lips were pressed together. And again, her eyes. A strange, clear red. They _must_ be contacts.

"Everyone, we have a new student. Her name is Enma Ai."

Ren gave her his most convincing perfunctory smile. After all, Wanyuudo had told him to play nice with the new girl. But when she didn't even move her gaze from his face, a voice in his head told him nice was the least he should be towards her.

* * *

A/N: I was supposed to publish this months ago but it was forgotten, along with many other things. I know multi-chaptered fics and I never had a stable relationship, but here's giving it another try. Please review if you think it's worth the effort. J


	2. Positioning the Pieces

**Chapter 2**

"So, how is she?"

Ren knew what the old principal was going to ask even before he opened his mouth. It had become a routine, after all. Ren would walk past the faculty lounge at nine in the morning and the balding, smiling man would be there, waiting with a pile of papers in hand. Wanyuudou was pretending to work. He was pretending to care.

"So, how is she?" He asked again. Ren bit back a "I heard you the first time" and tightly smiled , he had actually thought of giving Wanyuudou different answers to make it seem that he was paying particular attention to the student in question. But his superior seemed to be satisfied with a run-of-the-mill "She's doing just fine", so he didn't even bother making the effort. He found it was a good decision after several days, when every morning started to feel like deja vu. Today, Ren said the same four words. Only this time, the exasperation he had so very closely reined in managed to escape in the last second.

If Wanyuudou-kouchou noticed, he didn't let on. Ren had a gnawing suspicion that Wanyuudou was the type of man who saw and heard just those that he wanted to.

"Is she participating in class?" the principal pressed, falling into step with him.

"Well, she's very...open to new ideas. Very obedient, too."

Wanyuudou-kouchou was delighted, and he gave Ren a pat on the back to show it. "I was not wrong about leaving her in your hands." He followed Ren into the half-empty faculty room and straight to his cubicle, not minding the blade-sharp stares Ren was getting from his colleagues. "I knew from the very first second that you'd get along with her. You two seem very compatible, personality-wise." Ren almost scoffed. If getting along meant Ai allowing him to glimpse at her every now and then, then he had to agree. That probably made Ren and Ai best friends in Wanyuudou's book.

Ren carefully deposited the stuff on his desk. To the untrained eye, his table was organized and teacher-like: notebooks on one end, red pencil sharpener on the other. There was the expected photo of family (his was of he and his grandfather, smiling at the camera. He was eight then, and didn't know any better), and behind it, a tinted glass container full of markers and pens. But in comparison to the cluttered space next to his, Ren's table shouted pretense and it was a wonder why he was the only one who noticed.

"I'll make sure to update you if anything comes up," assured Ren, subtly hinting the man to go away. "Have a nice day, Wanyuudou-kouchou." Smiling like he meant it, he waved the elder away with an open palm before making a show of arranging his already arranged desk. He admitted to himself that the principal's attempt at building interoffice rapport was getting old to him pretty fast. Perhaps it was the apparent pointlessness of it that turned him off more than anything; because despite the initial mystery Wanyuudou had planted in Ren's mind, the student he was weirdly fixated on failed to hold Ren's attention. She was absurdly quiet sometimes, yes, but to a teacher like him, she was still perfectly normal. He would even go as far as saying that if monotony had a form, it would very much look like Enma Ai.

So the next morning, Ren decided to skip the ritual. Instead of going to the faculty room to drop his previous class' things off, he went the other way and made do with carrying the crumpled pile of homework to his next class. It was located on the opposite side of the building and Ren was most likely going to pass more annoying students and equally grating co-teachers on the way, but it was either this or _that_, and Ren thought there was really no choice to make.

Outside, the grass looked like an ocean of green. Gusts of wind bent and blew the compliant blades and the sun shone in that peculiar way that made everything seem a little bit better. If Ren only looked out of the windows, he would see it. But since he was preoccupied with dodging as many people as possible, it was lost on him.

He was humming to a made-up tune when he passed the old store room. It was a stale fixture in the school, something that you pass on your way to somewhere else. It was locked, anyway, so there was nothing interesting in it except for the fact that it was closed in so securely with two big padlocks. And as he was oblivious due to the current state of his preoccupation, Ren failed to notice that the perpetually locked room was no longer such. The rusty chains slithered to the floor with a metallic hiss. Ren glanced to his right at the sound.

It took no rocket scientist to figure out that something was off.

Ren walked to the door and reached out to take the heavy lock in his hand. He cocked his head to peer inside the slightly opened door. "Kobayashi-san, you in there?"

It was silent for the first few seconds, but as he was about to walk away, there was a shuddering breath. It whisked past his hearing, more like an illusion than anything else. But it made Ren freeze. His mind quickly debated on going in or leaving but there was a pull in his gut that told him to stay.

So with furrowed brows, he pushed the door a little more and squeezed himself in.

The place was dark, dank, and not surprisingly, smelled of old socks. Ren's lip curled in disgust.

Turning to his left, he tried to listen closer, focusing on the shallow breaths that made his heart race. After all, Ren was a very practical man and like all practical men, did not believe in ghosts. Or at least, did not want to.

"Is anybody here?" The taps of his shoes on the floor unknowingly matched the weak exhales of the unseen stranger.

"Are you all right?" The stranger wasn't answering but he kept at it. By the time of Ren's third call, he had already reached one corner of the room. It was a dead end. He turned around, clasping the wall for balance, something to hold on to as the nervousness got to his chest. There were bells going off somewhere in his brain, but the thought _Try again _was stronger.

"Look. I'm here to help," he said. _If you need it._ There was still no word.

Despite the protests of his common sense, Ren did his best to scour the room, going to the other corners. His hands served as his guides, brushing and clutching at random things to keep him from hurting himself. Dirt clung to his fingers as though desperate to attach itself to something else other than the room.

The breaths were still audible.

Ren's thoughts ran over themselves in haste. What was he doing? He should be in class in ten minutes. But his feet didn't seem to want to leave, and he cursed them for it. It was not every day that he found himself in a situation that required him to stray from the schedule neatly printed out on his journal. Nine o'clock, first class. Ten o'clock, second class. Eleven o'clock, lunch. And all it went until three in the afternoon. Nowhere did it say Eight fifty, investigate strange sounds in the empty store room. Ren had the strong urge to slap himself in the face, but the urge to find out was stronger.

He circled the room one more time. And then another. He was pretty sure his footsteps had made a path in the unswept floor by now. Sweat ran down his back and he didn't have to look at himself in the light to know that his shirt was stained.

It finally came to the point when he no longer had to use his hands to know where he was going. The turns became oddly instinct. His steps were surer and he had learned to step more quietly to minimize anything else other than the inhales he was trying to trace. But the longer he did, the more he felt lost.

And Ichimoku Ren never was a patient man.

"Fine," said Ren, talking to the darkness, "if you don't want me to bother you, then fine. But if you're a student... if you're a student you should go back to class and stop playing pranks.

And if you're not a student-" Ren swallowed, "then you have no business being here so you should leave before security catches you." Security meant two middle-aged guards who spent their time napping in the gym, but the stranger didn't need to know that. Threats were his last resort at this point and he made sure they were as convincing as they could make them. He gave the stranger a few more seconds of chance to respond.

Annoyingly enough, it seemed to Ren that the breaths came calmer, as if the stranger was relieved that he was giving up. Ren felt the anger rise, so he knew it was time to go. The stranger could breathe away for two more years undisturbed for all he cared. With a final squint, he trudged back to the door.

And tripped.

The pain was immediate, lancing through his skull before he could fathom that he was facedown on the filthy linoleum. His left knee, the first to hit the ground, felt like it had been jack hammered. The right side of his face was numb and ringing.

Nonetheless, Ren tried to push himself up, spitting out the disgusting whatever that had found its way onto his lips.

"Fucking shit." Student or not, he was in too much pain to care if he was heard by the stranger. He grabbed his hurt leg with two hands and slowly tried to fold it closer to his chest. The skin stretched excruciatingly, making him stop.

_This is what you get for caring,_ a cynical voice in his head jeered, but there was another jolt of pain and it was gone.

Lids closed, Ren could now hear two sets of pained inhales. And when he opened his eyes, he saw another pair looking at him right back.

His heart went all the way up to his throat before his brain processed the familiarity of those gleaming orbs. They were red, even in the dark.

"Enma Ai?"

Her pupils held surprise, too. Judging from where her eyes were, it seemed like she was crouched on the floor. Ren imagined she was holding herself away from him, wary and untrusting. "Are you okay?" Ren asked, forgetting his probably broken leg. "Are you hurt?" It was instinct that made him reach out to her.

"Don't touch me."

His outstretched fingers curled in rejection. "What?"

"I said, don't touch me." Her voice was tens of decibels away from being considered a shout but the thinly veiled dislike in her words made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Ren's knee throbbed in a steady rhythm under the fabric of his slacks. Half of his face felt sensitive and swollen. The back of his throat burned with words that itched to match her ungratefulness. But he couldn't bring himself to say anything but a bleak "Fine." The girl did not want anything to do with him; that much was apparent. And he would happily go on his way if not for the fact that his leg felt like it was going to fall off.

He put all of his weight on his right foot and tried to prop himself up to no avail. The muscles on his injured knee screamed with the effort. Ren sighed. "I know you're not feeling particularly helpful at the moment, but I have a class waiting for me, so I would really appreciate it if you'd lend me hand."

He threw in a "please", too, for good measure.

But it felt like she stared at him for hours before he heard a shuffle. He expected her to stand up and do something, anything, yet all he felt was an unknown object falling into his lap. He grasped it carefully. It was an old baseball bat. Ren got the urge to swing it in her direction.

"So what am I supposed to do with this?"

Her eyes vanished for a second as she blinked. "It's a crutch."

A crutch. "Right. Thanks. Great." Ren never thought highly of the human species but this particular instance made his head spin. "So I'm just going to lean on this and hope I don't fall and break my other leg." She kept quiet as he tried to stand up again, huffing heavily. The metal bat clinked as it hit the linoleum. Its rounded end convinced Ren he was about to hurt himself on purpose but seeing no other alternative, he merely bit his lip and hoped for the least worst.

There was no thud. He was up. The bat shook dangerously under his sweaty palm but he was up. His other leg was slightly bent and limp and he was having a hard time trying to figure out how he was going turn around and walk out of the door. There was something about her being there that made Ren feel thoroughly unwelcome and he just wanted to get out.

"Enma-san-"

"There's a bookcase."

"A what?"

"A bookcase. To your right. It's empty but it can hold your weight." Her voice was quiet and undisturbed, as though she wasn't inside an unused storage room with her injured math teacher. Ren blindly followed her instructions, stretching out his arm as far as it went. His fingers came across the texture of polished wood and he grabbed it desperately. He ambled his way to the exit with small, pained steps. He wanted to ask how she knew the room so well but decided not to. They had only been in the room for a small amount of time but he already got the impression that she wasn't much of an explainer.

The end of the bat hit the door first and with an exhale of relief, he felt for the knob. His hands must be filthy by now.

Ren looked back at her, at those eyes. "You're okay, right?" Of course, there was no reply. And he didn't really want to wait.

So he turned the metal handle and pulled it open. The sliver of light was weak but it was enough to hurt his eyes. He looked away, letting his pupils adjust to the change. When he could no longer see white spots dancing in his vision, he completely opened them.

Enma Ai opened hers, too. And he bet she could see the bruise on his right brow and the gray covering the front of his shirt just as well as he could see the blood running down her forehead and the grimace of pain on her lips that clearly told him he wasn't the only one in dire need of an icepack.

* * *

There was something strange about the way she shrunk every time Onna's manicured nails got too close to her face. It was with an almost desperation that she leaned away from the nurse's motherly ministrations, as though it hurt more to be helped than to be left alone. Ren had the cold compress squarely on his right eye but with his left, her movements to avoid Onna were perspicuous.

He shifted slightly from his cot and leaned more on the piled pillows on his back. He watched as Onna's palms grazed Ai's arms. Her wince was like a nervous jump and it made him worry more than he would like to let on.

When they asked her about what happened, Ai replied with a curt "I fell", which to Ren was right up there with "the dog ate my homework". But Onna did not push. Ren knew she had learned that the best way to make an adolescent be honest with you is to first swallow all of their lies.

"Are you bruised anywhere else?" asked Onna as she finished putting a band aid on Ai's head wound.

Ai's hands fisted in her lap, making her skirt ride up an inch. Ren glimpsed the faded watercolor-like spots on her knees. "No."

"Does it hurt anywhere else?"

"No."

Onna threw a worried glance at Ren. "Are you sure you don't need your grandma to come over?"

Ai tilted her head to openly stare at the nurse. "No."

The girl clearly thought nothing of her injuries, no matter how visible and excruciating they looked.

"O-kay then." Onna gathered the tray full of bloodied cotton balls and gauze before turning towards Ren. He sat up a bit straighter, trying not to flex his knee muscles. "How about you,

Ichimoku-sensei?"

"No worries," Ren grinned, "It'll take more than this to get rid of me." Onna laughed, while Ai's lips pursed grimly.

"Well, I suppose I should go talk to Wanyuudo-kouchou to make sure Inoue-sensei takes care of your classes for today. And as for you, young lady," she looked back at the meek girl, "you can go home. Get some rest."

Ai studied Onna's face before saying "Thank you." Slowly, she slid off the hospital bed. With another inch of leg revealed, Ren couldn't help but see just how much Ai was lying. Her skin was blotted with many bruises that Ren thought would only be natural if she hurled himself down the staircase. He told himself the feeling of sudden concern was the curiosity he almost always never fed, but his next words betrayed him.

"Maybe I can take you home."

Onna didn't even bother hiding her shock. Ai, however, did not show any reaction apart from turning her head slightly in his direction.

"I'm going to be fine," she said, with finality that he had never heard from a teenager. She left the room shortly after that, with both of them adults watching her back, perplexed.

They had seen more than their fair share of angsty, brooding adolescents but they had never seen someone look so...comfortable being one. It was unnerving, at the very least.

"Gotta tell you, Ren, that Ai's one weird kid."

Ren wanted to agree with Onna wholeheartedly but he found himself doubting his instincts. Up until now, he had not been bothered about being wrong; but when it came to Enma Ai, Ren felt he was going to pay dearly for it.

* * *

A/N: And I never thought this day would come. I'm trying to draft the rest of this story. We'll see where it leads. Review if you can. -J


	3. The Game Begins

**Chapter 3**

Ren thought it was a one-time thing. He had compartmentalized what happened the week before as an accident, and as such, it was meant to happen only once. But just like anything that he had come to assume involving Enma Ai at that point, he was wrong.

Tuesday of that week, she came to class with a bruise on her left knee. It wasn't one of those water-colored ones he had seen on her in the clinic. It was dark, almost like a mole, but it was too big to be one. It was like someone drew a circle on her skin and colored it in furiously with a marker. He had noticed it when she uncrossed her legs. She had them crossed during the entire period, but as he handed out graded homework to the class, she shifted her legs and there it was. He could've sworn their gazes met when he looked at her face with surprise. But she did not want to say anything and neither did he.

On Thursday, it was a cut on her cheek. It was shallow, a morbid checkmark starting from the corner of her lip and ending near her ear. She covered it by resting that side of her face on the palm of her hand. She didn't give any signs that it hurt, so Ren, urged by his daily mantra of "Stay out of her business", pretended it wasn't there.

Friday was the day the wrist splotches appeared. They were angry and shaped like fingers. By then, even the stoic Ren couldn't help but wonder what or who was doing things to the girl. Or was she doing this to herself? She was too nonchalant about them and wore them like macabre collectors' items. Her cut and bruise hadn't completely healed and together, the injuries seemed like paint on a pale canvass. Ren had thought of telling Ai to go to the clinic. Nothing too nagging. Just an offhand suggestion, or a teacher's order (those didn't need any explanation). But every time he neared her, the look in her eyes made him feel like speaking about them would break the truce that had somehow formed between them. It was a silent agreement, and his job was to shut up.

He had frankly thought about going back to the storeroom. He had the weird idea that if he did, he would find out what's happening without asking her. Anyway, he could make it seem accidental, too. It wasn't like anybody was saying anything. His fellow teachers didn't mention it. Her classmates didn't seem to notice anything was wrong. It was like he was the only one who could see. Until Onna.

"Is Enma Ai doing well?" She had asked several days after the huge bruise appeared on the girl.

They were on the school rooftop, smoking some menthols Ren had confiscated from a bunch of seniors.

He had to cover his choke with a cough when the nurse questioned. "What?"

"I said is Enma Ai doing well? Jesus, that bruise on her knee looks fucked up."

"Thank God," Ren breathed in relief. "I thought I was imagining things."

Onna brushed some strands of hair from her face and snorted. "What do you mean you're imagining things? You'd have to be blind not to see that that girl has issues."

"Well nobody's saying anything about it. None of the faculty drones are gossiping about it. Even students aren't giving a fuck."

"Well, maybe they're learning too much from you," mocked Onna. She put one leg up on the ledge.

"Wanyuudou said it might be a family thing."

"Wanyuudou knows?"

"He knows everything, that man."

"No shit. He could've at least warned me about it."

"He also said you were avoiding him." Onna grinned like a cheshire cat. "Are you?"

"I'm avoiding everyone-" the nurse gave him a look, "apart from you, of course. It's hard enough to deal with my own shit, you know." Ren took a long drag from his cig.

"Mm. But you have to admit. You're curious."

Yes, he was. Leave it to Onna to read him like a first aid book. He didn't want to do anything about it; he certainly didn't want to be involved in it (especially now that it seemed like a domestic matter, those sticky ones that needed the police to sort out), but deep down, he wanted to know what _it_ was. Was it an angry father? A drugged mother? Or step-siblings from hell? Ren's family was nothing to brag about but he could say he didn't get beat up at 14. Ren believed that if you had to be hurt, it should be because you wanted to. Isn't that supposed to be a law of the universe?

"So what are you planning to do about it?" Onna asked as the break finished with the ringing bell.

"Nothing. Nothing, right now."

"Yeah? Going to wait til she shows up at school with a missing limb?"

"Shut it, Onna." Ren's temper flared. He was a bit surprised, given that he rarely got pissed at his ex. "I told you, it's not my job, okay?" He threw another glare at the woman and found her smiling at him.

"Sure it isn't."

* * *

Ren stayed true to his words and let the matter go. He kept going to school with books. Ai kept going to school with bruises. They were smaller now, but more than a couple. They littered her body like specks of dirt. Once, Wanyuudou, catching him off guard in the men's room, asked if there was something Ren had to tell him. He replied, "Tanaka is failing Math," with which the principal gave a disappointed "I see." They both knew it wasn't what his superior was talking about.

Call it strange, but Ren felt like he was doing her a favor, keeping his end of the bargain. He knew that from the moment he found Ai in the storeroom, he had somehow agreed to keep things secret.

Until of course, everything happened right in his face.

It was exactly three weeks after the storeroom incident and Ren was on his mid-morning break. He decided to get out of the stifling school building for a change. Onna was out on a seminar and he had no one to share his pilfered lights with, so he figured he should find a secluded spot to indulge his vice. There was a cluster of trees just beyond the soccer field he had always eyed from the rooftop and now, he decided, was a good time as any to see if it was somewhere he could smoke in peace.

The grass rustled under his feet as he briskwalked to the site. It was very humid, the sun shining a little too brightly that most students decided to stay in for their own breaks. _Perfect_, thought Ren. There would be a small possibility of him getting caught violating the same rules he was expected to uphold.

He was but a few feet away from the nearest magnolia, his hand restlessly jiggling the cigarette pack in his right pocket, when he noticed something white flash between the tree trunks.

Ren stopped in his tracks. "What the-"

He decided not to move closer and instead squinted towards the direction of the movement. He heard rough, grumbling noises and slight thuds. Sounds that logically did not make for a positive conclusion. His foot seemed to move on its own accord and inched half a step forward.

"Hold it!"

Ren's ears pricked up. Did a voice just say what he thought it did? The reply came a little less clear and he could barely make out two alternating voices in conversation. They were students, his brain told him, finally catching up to the unusual events. As a teacher, he should probably get in there and demand to know what they were up to. But the larger part of Ren told him it was pointless. They were probably there to do what he was just about to. It couldn't be anything worse than that. They were kids, after all.

His foot that had moved in anticipation had began backing away slowly, when one of the voices teasingly said, "Who's going to die now, Ai-chan?"

The last two words seemed to do something to his body because the next thing he knew, he was running towards the trees, his lungs ready for a confrontation.

"What's going on here?" He had shouted even before he could clearly make out a group of about four boys surrounding something on the ground. All of them turned around at almost the same time, the recognition on their faces as swift as their decision to run. Ren, unfortunately, did not seem to know who any of them were. They were already too far for him to take a second look, either. All that was there to do was to tend to what they had left behind.

He had known it was her before she sat up.

"Enma-san."

Ren's throat constricted unconsciously as he smoothed his gaze over her bent legs and scraggly hair. There was mud on the sleeves of her blouse and on her skirt, little pieces of grass stuck everywhere, even on her socks. The state of her uniform made him not want to see what those boys did to her face.

"Enma-san."

Ai's movements were contained. She started brushing away the dirt on her arms and on her front with a pace so strangely slow, as if she was merely flicking away lint off of a newly laundered dress. And as always, she was dreadfully silent. The good thing was she was not telling Ren to fuck off. The bad thing was she was not telling him anything at all. Ren didn't know what to do with himself, so he settled for crouching beside her, just not too close for her to be uncomfortable. As he watched her clean herself up, the gears in his brain began to work out the reason for the girl's injuries. There was a burgeoning urge to go after those boys with a huge metal pipe, but he quashed it before it could fully form.

"I'm fine." Ai's voice cut through his thoughts.

Ren tried to bend down a little closer to see if she really was, but her hair was in the way.

Without thinking, he reached out and held a handful of locks away from her face. The way she shrank away from him was the fastest he had ever seen her move.

"I told you not to touch me before, didn't I?"

"Yes, but your face-"

"I'm alive. That's all that matters."

He wasn't sure about her definition of alive because from his vantage point, she was barely that.

She was bleeding from her temple and her left eye was swollen. There was also some blood trickling down her nose and her lips were cracked and wounded.

"Jesus Christ," Ren whispered. It looked like Ai didn't even put up a fight. In times like this, his first instinct was to call Onna, but the dutiful nurse was not around. The only one left in the clinic was Dr. Yamamoto, a perverted prick who was sure to gossip about the incident faster than he could heal Ai's wounds. Then again, what did Ren know about healing? The only first aid he had ever administered was to unwrap a bandaid, and by the looks of things, that would be as much help as offering the girl one of his cigarettes.

Sighing, Ren got up. "I'll take you to the hospital." Ai's surprised eyes gazed up at him.

"What?"

"The hospital. I don't think the clinic is well equipped to handle your..." he vaguely motioned to her face, "...condition."

"I'm going to be fine," insisted Ai.

"You said that the last time."

Ai continued to stare at him, as though thinking how best to strike. Ren stared back. He had been watching for too long, that he knew. This time, he was going to at least try to do something. It didn't mean he had to get involved. He just had to get all of that blood off of her.

It felt like years before Ai gathered herself up. She put her weight against a tree trunk to avoid needing Ren's help. Her knees were always this close to buckling, but out of sheer will, she was able to firmly plant her feet on the ground. She leaned her head back, making Ren see the real extent of the damage. He stopped himself from wincing.

"You have to get those fixed."

"I can go to the clinic by myself-"

"I told you, what they've got isn't enough-"

"Nurse Onna will do just fine," she snapped.

"She's not there."

"Then the doctor-"

"He's a nincompoop." Ren pursed his lips. He clearly shouldn't have said that. "Just go to the hospital."

There was a hint of a smile on Ai's broken lips. "What are you so afraid of?"

Ren's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"No one's going to notice," she said in a small, sure voice that partly convinced him she was reading his mind. "They never do."

Her words rang with a truth that he was very uncomfortable with. He remembered the conversation he had with Onna, where he questioned his sanity for observing things that seemed invisible to everyone's eyes. This girl, bruised and bloodied in front of him, seemed invisible to everyone's eyes. But not to his, apparently. And for yet another reason he couldn't put his finger on, the sight of her wasn't something he could easily dispel from his thoughts. He had to try harder.

"There's a first time for everything," Ren argued. "And let's face it, neither of us want any of them to talk."

She had his eyes closed and for a moment, he thought she had fallen asleep. But then she bowed her head and slowly pushed herself off of the trunk.

"You can walk me."

So he did. First, he lent her his suit jacket, telling her to cover up as much as she could. It wouldn't do them both any favors if people on the street started pointing at the beaten up girl and the guy she was with who was too insensitive to even help hold her up. For her part, Ai's head remained bowed and she kept her eyes trained on Ren's pretentiously shined shoes for direction.

Walking with a slight limp, they couldn't go as fast as they wanted to, but they were fast enough not to gather stares from the crowd. The city was bustling and busy as always, and they had no time to look at the strange pair crossing the street.

Ren was acutely aware of her presence during their walk. Although he could touch her if he merely extended his arm several inches to the right, he kept his distance as much as their small gap could afford. There was the question "Are you all right?" ready to roll off his tongue any minute, but he stopped himself because like many things, it was futile when it came to her.

He could already see the big white building that was their destination. With only a couple of streets left to cross, a feeling of dread steadily began growing in his chest. What was he supposed to do once they get in there? He obviously had to introduce himself as her teacher. And then they would start to ask. What happened? Why didn't he bring her to the school clinic? Had her parents been informed? Had the principal been informed?

The teacher inwardly cursed himself for not thinking about all of these then. Ren was no McGyver; he was not good at making contingency plans at the drop of a hat. In fact, he was horrible at it. After all, never in his life did he need to formulate contingency plans; they were for spontaneous people. Ren was a creature of the most mundane habit. He risked a glance at his companion and saw her discretely clutching her side. The dread morphed into something close to concern, and he looked away.

"We're almost there," he said, trying to sound reassuring. They were already in front of the building, just waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green.

"You can leave now."

"H- What?"

"You can leave. I can handle myself."

Ren tried to inhale some patience. "You can't."

"You're late for class," Ai pointed out.

Ren opened his mouth to retaliate but he realized she was right. Both their breaks were well over by then, and he had 20 people in Room 22B waiting for him to discuss logarithmic equations. On the other hand, his student was bleeding and there was no one there for her but him.

"I don't think I should leave you-"

"I don't think you should leave your class."

With that, the pedestrian light blinked and she took his surprise as an advantage and crossed.

"Enma-san!" He called after her, but she continued until she reached the other side. Ren expected Ai to turn around when she got to the hospital door, but she didn't.

The light blinked again, and cars whizzed past Ren. The next time he looked, Ai was gone.

* * *

The next few days passed by without a hiccup. Ren didn't want to admit it, but Ai was right. Nobody noticed. Apart from him, of course. The empty seat on the fifth row was a constant elephant in the room. Ren waited for one of his students to at least say something about their missing classmate- after all, she had been gone for two days, but all of them continued to gossip and sleep and not pay attention to his lessons just like always. It made him want to throw his lecture notes at their faces.

On the third day of Ai's absence, Ren could hardly bear walking into 1-B without having a slight mental breakdown. For one, he didn't know how she was. Two, he had no idea _where_ she was. And three, a nagging feeling in his gut told him it was his fault, and that every day that he let pass without doing anything about anything was making it worse.

So right as the bell rang and class ended, he raced past his students and jogged to the clinic. He had to see Onna and tell her. He had an inkling that she wasn't going to say anything nice, but it's not like he had a choice.

The clinic door was partially open when he got there, but the clinic itself was empty save for the nurse. Onna was bent over some paperwork, holding her pen between her teeth, a sure sign that she was under stress.

"Yo." Ren greeted, trying to sound casual. Onna didn't even look up.

"What is it?"

"Busy?"

"Clearly."

Despite the obvious dismissal, Ren deposited himself on a chair across from her. "I need to tell you something."

"I already know you're still in love with me."

"Onna, this is serious." His hushed tone got the nurse's attention. "It's about Enma Ai."

The way Onna pushed the papers away told Ren she was intrigued. "All right. Five minutes."

Ren sighed heavily. "She got beat up."

"What? Where?"

"Here."

"Here? You mean at school?"

"Found her in the grounds. A group of older boys..." he trailed off, letting her fill in the blanks.

"Mother fucker," hissed Onna. "How can I not know this? Why didn't you take her here? Where is she?

Is she okay now?"

Ren closed his eyes. "Look, it happened three days ago, you weren't here so I had to take her to the hospital."

"Jesus Christ, Ren." The nurse leaned back into her chair, equal parts astounded and devastated.

"Those little fucks should be taught a lesson. Where's Ai? Did you tell her parents?"

Ren rubbed his eyes in frustration. The more questions Onna launched at him, the more he realized he did not handle the situation the way a thinking adult should have. The guilt felt like lead in his stomach.

"No. I- I didn't tell her parents. I didn't tell anybody but you-"

"What?" Onna was positively shouting now. "Why the fuck would you do that? That kid was badly hurt! Her parents have the right to know what happened!"

"But I don't know who her parents are! I didn't make out those boys' faces! What was I supposed to do? She was- she was bleeding and I just- I couldn't-"

A knock on the door halted their shouting match, and their heads snapped towards the door as though they were caught doing something illegal.

"Yes?" rasped Onna.

It was Wakata. He had a hand clutched to his chest, like he just ran a mile to get there. His perfect hair was plastered on his forehead, and his pleading eyes made Ren swallow. Enma Ai quickly crossed his thoughts.

"It's a student," Wakata breathed. "We need h-help."

"What happened?"

"Takanaga. He- he fell from the rooftop. We think he's dead."

* * *

A/N: I know it seems like I'm updating only once a year, but I would have you know that I'm not letting this fic die. I'm writing the next chapter as we speak. So in the meantime, please review if you can. I'd appreciate it.


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